***Monday, April 6, 2026 at 9:00 a.m., Commissioners met in regular session with Chairman Ben Robertson, Commissioner Tim Bertling, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Stephanie Sims. Commissioner Lester Pinkerton was absent due to illness.
Commissioners said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Maintenance Supervisor Squire Fields entered the meeting at 8:57 a.m.
Greg Lamberty entered the meeting at 9:01 a.m.
Mr. Fields stated that the thermostat had been replaced in the Clerk’s office which resolved the heat problem. The impellor was failing and will need to be replaced. Mr. Fields asked about the wall at Probation. Commissioner Robertson was the only one that had seen it, and replied that nothing has been decided and there was no rush.
Mr. Fields then asked about the AC in the Public Defender’s office. Ms. Poston stated that the county was required to provide the space and the AC will need to be replaced. Mr. Fields said he was working on the grants with Mr. Sims for the windows and HVAC and added that they might have to replace some of the trim when the windows were replaced.
Lastly, Mr. Fields stated that they checked on the snowmobile park last week and found that someone had taken the plate over the well. Commissioners told him to get it fixed and Snowmobile Funds could be used.
Fay Almond entered the meeting at 9:09 a.m.
Mr. Fields asked if the cleaning contractor could get into the Justice Building to provide an estimate for cleaning. Commissioner Bertling suggested they provide a ball park estimate based on the square footage, they didn’t need to get into the building at this time.
The meeting with Mr. Fields ended at 9:13 a.m. and he left the meeting.
Sheriff Travis Stolley entered the meeting at 9:25 a.m.
Chairman Robertson asked Sheriff Stolley to explain the maintenance agreement for the generator. Sheriff Stolley stated that it was a three-year agreement for maintenance. They will come on a quarterly basis to change the oil, and complete general maintenance so that it was ready when needed. He said it was a couple hundred more than the previous agreement.
Ms. Poston asked Sheriff Stolley to keep an eye out for a generator for the Justice Center. Chairman Robertson asked why the courthouse was not connected to the jail generator. Sheriff Stolley was not sure, but thought it could be.
Civil Attorney Bill Wilson entered at 9:35 a.m.
Commissioner Bertling moved to sign CAT Standby Preventative Maintenance Agreement for the Sheriff’s Office. Chairman Roberton stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Wilson stated that it had been a relatively quiet week last week. He said that he reached out to opposing council on a recent issue, but they were out of the office so there was no movement. He reviewed items with Sheriff Stolley regarding some enforcement issues and was happy the county was completing the codification of the ordinances. When those are available online, it will be so much easier for everyone to have access to them. He stated that it appears records requests have been reducing. He was also happy to see that they were looking into the email issue and options to address it. Lastly, Mr. Wilson reviewed Herd Districts and what animals were included and their purpose with Commissioners.
The meeting with Mr. Wilson ended at 9:50 a.m. and he and Sheriff Stolley left the meeting.
Commissioner Bertling moved to sign the plat map for Jessop Subdivision. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to sign Hazardous Fuels Treatment Contract with Back 40 Forestry LLC. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Poston stated that we have not been reimbursed from the state since January on the hazardous fuels grants. Chairman Robertson asked where it was being held up. Ms. Poston replied that according to the email it was on the federal side. She will send another email.
Commissioner Bertling moved to sign the Findings and Decisions Letter for FILE #25-0144 Hilt Venture Cap, Inc. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Lamberty and Ms. Almond left the meeting at 9:54 a.m.
At 10:00 a.m. Commissioner Bertling moved to recess as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners and reconvene as the Board of Equalization. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Poston left the meeting at 10:01 a.m.
Commissioner Bertling moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel numbers RP61N01E049010A and RP61N01E049160A for Church of Christ of Boundary County, Inc. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RP63N01E236614A and RP62N01E111202A for North Bench Volunteer Fire District. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RPB06500000119A for Woodland Mennonite Church. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RPB0240017015AA for the Pearl Theater. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #’s RP62N01E111217A, RP62N01E111645A and RP62N01E114700A for Mountain View Mennonite Church. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RP62N03E212430A for Curley Creek Community Hall Association, Inc. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RP62N02E077050A for Bonners Ferry Church of the Nazarene. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #’s RPB0120006003AA, RPB0120015009AA, and RPB07000010140A for Boundary Regional Community Health. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #’s RPB0160001007BA, RPB0160001009CA, RPB0160001009DA, RPB0160001010BA, RPB0160001010EA, RPB0160001010FA, and RPB0160001011AA for Mountain Springs Church. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #s RPB1060001002AA, RPB10600020040A, and RPB1060001004BA for Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 3622. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Exemption application for parcel #RPB0000022542AA for Bonners Ferry Cong. Of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Bonners Ferry, ID Inc. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to adjourn as the Board of Equalization and reconvene as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Ms. Poston reentered the meeting at 10:20 a.m.
Probation Officer Alisa Walker entered the meeting at 10:29 a.m. to provide her report. She stated that she had received an email from Bonner County concerning the Juvenile Detention Agreement that expires on September 30th. We have done two-year agreements in the past and the cost will increase from the current amount of $125.00/day to $170.00/day for the first year and $200.00/day for the second year. Chairman Robertson confirmed the rate was for juveniles only. Ms. Walker replied yes, their numbers are down but the complexity of the cases was causing the issue. Ms. Poston replied that they have 2 or 3 in custody now and the delay of their cases was costly for the county. She suggested Commissioners talk to the Prosecutor about that.
Ms. Walker then discussed various devices that she would like to implement into the system that would allow for pretrial release programs that would include geofencing for work, living, and to alert them to keep out of a victim’s area. She can also include county lines, state line etc. The information would report to various people. She will be discussing the possibility of implementing the devices with the judge and prosecutor to see how they feel about it.
The meeting with Ms. Walker ended at 10:48 a.m. and she left the meeting.
Boundary Economic Development Director David Sims entered the meeting at 10:49 a.m.
At 11:00 a.m. Mr. Sims stated that the Moyie Post Office keeps inching ahead. They have received the final decision letter in March which was approved. On Thursday of this week Mr. Sims will be hosting a Commerce Connection with Idaho Department of Commerce where 54 people are currently registered. Paul Kimmell who was on the Governor’s Economic Advisory Council and Wally Jacobsen with PAC are the key speakers.
Mr. Sims stated that he had his final meeting with the state to assist with updating Idaho Rural Partnership on infrastructure. He said the state needs to know what the needs are for water and waste water in rural areas.
DEQ turn down the City of Moyie on their request to have some of the debt forgiven for the sewer system. They will have their rate hearing soon. Mr. Wilson has approved the two block grant agreements and Mr. Sims will include the ICRIMP contractor agreements in the bid process. He then reviewed the timeline to make sure Commissioners were in agreement. Ms. Poston confirmed that her office will handle submittal and processing and allow two weeks for payments.
Mr. Sims stated that he had reviewed the tree grants and stated that the purpose of the grant was to replace hazard trees and you need to have a tree management plan in place. You can also get funding to create the plan. Commissioners asked Mr. Sims to check into the requirements and how extensive the plan needed to be.
Chairman Robertson asked Mr. Sims to arrange tours for Commissioners to visit a couple different businesses at different times of the year.
The meeting with Mr. Sims ended at 11:23 a.m. and he left the meeting.
IT Director Matt Hodges entered the meeting at 11:25 a.m. and referred to the proposal/estimate that had been emailed for IT Modernization and Security.
Sheriff Stolley reentered the meeting at 11:27 a.m.
Mr. Hodges stated that the main report had been sent earlier and this was what Commissioners had asked him to research several months ago. Our current email service has issues and was getting worse. The estimate came back higher than expected, but noted that there were advantages to switching in addition to resolving the issues.
Sheriff Stolley stated that this ties into other things they are doing at the Sheriff’s office and it will make it seamless. He also added that it was maintained and serviced outside of the county and will support everything that we are doing across all platforms.
Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid entered the meeting at 11:33 a.m.
Sheriff Stolley stated that this will have better capabilities with records retention because the databases are bigger. We currently have to move items when we reach capacity.
Mr. Hodges stated that we would have 50 gigabyte capacity with each mailbox and confirmed it would integrate better with other systems. We are currently at $4/yr per mailbox for the current system and it will jump up to $250/yr for the Sheriff and $150/yr for the county. The sheriff was higher because of additional security. He added that we can set the data retention to 2-years by statute and handle it as we have done in the past or let Microsoft handle it.
Chairman Robertson clarified that going forward it would be $33,000/year and an additional $38,000-40,000 to implement the first year. Mr. Hodges confirmed that was correct. He added that the servers would have to be upgraded first at a cost of $9,000 each. Ms. Poston pointed out that we have not budgeted for this expense this year.
Chairman Robertson again confirmed that it would be about $77,000 to get this accomplished. Mr. Hodges confirmed that was correct. Ms. Poston asked how much the annual fee would increase by each year. Mr. Hodges replied that they have kept that pretty level. He also added that the cost was by the number of users, so it would be important to consider that in any expansion.
Ms. Pluid confirmed that it was under the bid requirements of $100,000. Chairman Robertson stated we can’t move forward until fall, and he asked Mr. Hodges to forward the quotes to the Clerk for budget requests. He asked Mr. Hodges if there were other counties using this system. Mr. Hodges replied yes. We currently have basic email, but if you want reliability and robustness, then this was the system we need to move to.
Chairman Robertson asked if this can be done in phases. Mr. Hodges replied no, it was all or none. Chairman Robertson again asked him to put this into the budget request for them to figure out.
Adrienne Norris entered the meeting at 11:48 a.m.
The meeting with Mr. Hodges ended at 11:49 a.m. and he left the meeting. Ms. Pluid and Sheriff Stolley also left the meeting.
Ms. Norris asked about the CAT agreement and Findings and Decisions letter that Commissioners signed earlier in the day. Chairman Robertson explained what those were.
The meeting recessed for lunch at 11:52 a.m. and everyone left the meeting.
The meeting reconvened for the afternoon session at 1:30 p.m. with Chairman Robertson, Commissioner Bertling, Clerk Glenda Poston, Deputy Clerk Stephanie Sims.
Road & Bridge Superintendent Brad Barton and Assistant Superintendent Adam Ryals entered the meeting at 1:26 p.m. and stated that they have finished opening roads from spring closure, continued with pit maintenance, and the crusher was reconfigured and was working well. They are stockpiling ¾ chip for future use, and brooming on several roads throughout the county. They plan to hit the grading hard this week and finish up Parker Canyon. They will also continue with repair work on Kootenai Trail and repair a culvert on Perkins Lake Rd. The Dura Patcher will also be checked so it was ready to go.
For Solid Waste they only ran the grinder one day last week because the school was bringing loads from the demolition. Staff was pretty busy with the loads being brought in.
Mr. Ryals discussed the fee schedule and ways to simplify it. He also provided fee schedules from the surrounding areas as a comparison. He stated that commercial was the big difference. He also noted that residential was charged after a certain amount, which might encourage people to come more often. Commissioner Bertling felt there needed to be a special location for residents with dump trailers.
Chairman Robertson said we were just beginning the process of re-evaluating the entire fee schedule under the previous superintendent. Mr. Ryals replied that it was the mixed loads that cause the biggest issue, because the staff has to sort it. Chairman Robertson replied that the resident should be separating not staff. Mr. Ryals suggested they consider a higher fee for mixed loads to cover the staff time. Ms. Poston agreed. Mr. Ryals also noted that other areas charge a higher rate for uncovered loads.
Commissioner Bertling stated he had spoken to DEQ about allowing a take it or leave it area. He said it can be done, but the issue was when it reaches a certain point it has to be purged. Mr. Ryals stated they could set out pallets for that purpose and purge it as needed.
Commissioner Bertling asked about cardboard. Mr. Barton replied that he was still looking into that. If the cardboard was baled the rate was higher and if there was contamination, it was only one bale instead of the entire load. He needed to gather more information on costs and trucking. Commissioner Bertling stated that the public would like to see it brought back.
Mr. Ryals then shared costs on the roof repair with estimates ranging from $1,000-$6,000. He said the washers need to be replaced on the metal roof. Commissioners agreed with the lowest bid and Ms. Poston asked them to make sure to get their certificate of insurance.
Commissioner Bertling said he would like to begin training staff on the burner.
The meeting with Mr. Barton and Mr. Ryals ended at 2:13 pm. And they left the meeting.
Personnel Director Pam Barton entered the meeting at 2:16 p.m. and shared employee status forms and applications recently received.
Commissioner Bertling moved to go into executive 74-206(b) to consider the evaluation, dismissal, or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, or public-school student. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman Robertson “aye”, Commissioner Bertling “aye”. The executive session ended at 3:00 p.m.
The meeting with Ms. Barton ended at 3:03 p.m. and she and Ms. Poston left the meeting.
The 2:45 p.m. appointment with Janet Preston was rescheduled for the following week.
Matt Pluid entered the meeting at 3:05 p.m. and shared information on ideas for additional ball fields for little league. He said there are 220 kids playing and they don’t have enough space. They will donate all of the equipment and time for the project and will also apply for grants for any materials needed. Commissioners reviewed the drawing. Commissioner Bertling suggested also moving the road and rotating the fields to make the best use of the space. The trails could then continue around them. Chairman Robertson said that this needs to go to the Parks Board first and get their comments before coming to us. He said he would reach out to Parks and get this added to their agenda for discussion.
Mr. Pluid left the meeting at 3:11 p.m.
Commissioner Bertling moved to recess as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners and reconvene as the Board of Equalization. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair and moved to approve the Property Tax Cancellation application for parcel #RP61N01E116430A for Paradise Valley Church & Cemetery Association, Inc. Commissioner Bertling second. Motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bertling moved to adjourn as the Board of Equalization and reconvene as the Boundary County Board of Commissioners. Chairman Robertson stepped down as chair to second. Motion passed unanimously.
There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 4:13 p.m.
Tuesday, April 7 and Wednesday April 8, 2026, Commissioners attended the 2026 Forest Collaborative Workship in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
Thursday, April 9, 2026 at 1:30 p.m., Commissioners met in special session with Chairman Ben Robertson, Commissioner Lester Pinkerton, Clerk Glenda Poston, and Deputy Clerk Stephanie Sims. Commissioner Tim Bertling was absent due to illness.
At 1:30 p.m., Chairman Robertson moved to go into executive session 74-206(b) to consider the evaluation, dismissal or disciplining of, or to hear complaints or charges brought against, a public officer, employee, staff member or individual agent, or public-school student. Commissioner Pinkerton second. Commissioners voted as follows: Chairman Robertson “aye”, Commissioner Pinkerton “aye”. The executive session ended at 3:13 p.m. No action was taken.
s/________________________________
BEN ROBERTSON, Chairman
ATTEST:
s/_______________________________
GLENDA POSTON, Clerk
By: Stephanie Sims, Deputy Clerk